For the Love of the Game
by elle127
Summary: When Melissa Braddock quits the Gryffindor Quidditch Team she swears she's done with the sport. Until she ends up playing for Slytherin


A/N: after toying with this idea for about a year now I finally found the motivation to write it. Well enjoy it and let me know what you think =)

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Melissa Braddock checked her watch for what felt like the hundredth time. Though it had felt like she had been sitting on the bench for hours, the pink banded waterproof sport watch had revealed that only a few minutes had gone by. The fifteen year old drummed her fingers on the glass tabletop impatiently as she watched people come in and out of the café in Kings Cross Station.

The date was September first, the time ten twenty one am. Melissa kept counting down the minutes until she was on the train back to school but she wasn't sure about her feelings on returning. On one hand she wanted to see her friends that she had not seen in over two months but she didn't feel like returning to her classes especially in her OWL year. From what he―

She stopped herself in mid thought. No matter how relevant a certain person was in this particular situation she didn't want to think about him. Especially after all of his bullshit that Melissa had had to put up with all last year. According to every female at Hogwarts Oliver Wood was the guy

"Damn it," Melissa growled in an undertone. His name had come up even when she was trying not to think about him. Looking for some sort of distraction Melissa resorted to building pyramids out of the sugar packets placed on the table. An activity that required an immense amount of concentration, Melissa prided herself on the creations she had come up with various times. Her Facebook was adorned with the pictures of said creations.

Melissa sank back into her chair as the sugar packets toppled over on the castle she had been trying to build and tried not to think of it as an omen for this coming year. Last year had been more than enough.

She stood up abruptly, threw a few pounds down on the table and picked her backpack up from the chair. She grabbed one end of the heavy trunk sitting by her feet. Adorned with the initials MB, Melissa's entire life was packed away in the black and silver trunk. Everything except the set of scarlet and gold quidditch robes that were currently hanging in her closet back in muggle London.

Melissa pulled her trunk behind her. That was the main reason she had chosen this trunk over the others. The wheels made it one hell of a lot easier to maneuver the giant block around the train station.

She made her way through the station weaving past the businessmen and the college aged travelers, pushing past obnoxious people until she found the platform she had been searching for.

The brick wall between platforms nine and ten loomed over her. Melissa looked at it as if waiting for an answer to some daunting question. After five years, getting to platform nine and three quarters should be quite easy but something about running headlong into a brick wall just didn't seem quite, _right_.

People were beginning to stare. Melissa took a cursory glance around to make sure no one was watching her directly and then ran headlong into the solid brick wall.

Instead of slamming into the wall, it engulfed her. As if she had ran through a gate Melissa appeared on platform nine and three quarters where a brilliant scarlet steam engine stood billowing tiny puffs of smoke from its funnel.

The platform was nearly empty, maybe about three or four students and their families milled around the platform waiting to the hour when the train departed.

Melissa made her way over to the door and with some difficulty pulled her trunk up the steps. She wheeled it down the length of one of the cars until she came to the last compartment. Being almost ten thirty, the train was empty. Melissa wrenched open the compartment door, threw her backpack on the seat and proceeded to lift her trunk onto the overhead rack. Despite her willowy frame she was all muscle a derived trait from all the sports she played.

"Do you want some help?" Melissa narrowly avoided dropping her trunk on her head. It slid off the rack, hit the ground with a thud and burst open, expelling all of its contents. Melissa turned to see Marcus Flint, already dressed in his school robes, leaning against the doorframe of the compartment. Melissa's eyes widened as they fell on the contents of her trunk. She dropped to her knees and hastily tried to shove her hot pink and lime green sports bras out of sight.

"What are you doing here?" Melissa asked harshly. "Don't you have somewhere else to be, someone else to bother?"

"I would," Marcus said slyly. "But seeing as there's no one else on the train it would look rather odd speaking to a doorframe. Don't you think?"

Melissa didn't answer Marcus Flint had a reputation at Hogwarts as being the biggest womanizer on campus and Melissa Braddock was one of the few girls who hadn't come under his spell. Not that he hadn't tried in past years but enough was enough. Gryffindors shouldn't date Slytherins anyway.

Melissa stood up, slamming the lid of her trunk down over her vast collection of neon colored sports bras. Using her foot she pushed it under the seat while managing to give Marcus the evil eye all in one go.

"You forgot one," Marcus announced loudly, picking up Melissa's neon orange sports bra and flinging it into her compartment. Melissa snatched her bra out of the air with quick reflexes.

"Nice catch," Marcus said approvingly but Melissa shoved him out of the compartment and slammed the door shut. She sank down on the seat, throwing her bra over her eyes to block out the sun that was pouring in. This year was already starting off worse than how last year had ended. Was it possible that things could turn sourer than they had already?

Melissa heard the compartment door slide open and three pairs of footsteps walked inside. Someone pulled the bra off of Melissa's eyes and she found herself staring at Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet.

Things just got one hell of a lot worse.

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A/N: so constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys =)


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